Tag: wandern

Not that far away from Vienna, in Lower Austria, there is a mountain called the Eibl. This little mountain is well-known for nice skiing tours and snowshoe hikes. Furthermore the winter in Austria was returning in its former magnificence and so I decided to hike up the Eibl with snowshoes and the snowboard on the back.

As this was my very first hike with snowshoes, I underestimated the phisical endeavour. Lifting one foot after another up that hill whilst every footstep was getting covered again and again with snow turned out to be way more exhausting than expected. The goal was to reach the top within one hour – in the end it took us (me and two of my friends) up to almost two hours.
Nonetheless the effort was worth it. It was snowing and we really enjoyed the winter wonderland atmosphere.

At the mountain we entered the cabin straightaway and refilled our engines with some awesome and typical Austrian food. Here you can see one of the meals we had – the Hüttentoast.

After a break of approx. one hour, we exchanged the snowshoes with the boards and prepared for the descent. A beautiful and with deep powder snow-covered slope awaited us.

The descent took us only about ten minutes and the almost untouched slope was just amazing. All together this trip took us about 4-5 hours. So even if you have plans for the afternoon, this a trip you can do easily in half a day. I think its worth a try 🙂

This time, the summit of the big Priel (der große Priel), the highest mountain of upper Austria, was the goal. Not only that the planned route was 22 km long, it covered also 2000 m in height – in one day.. the Sunday of 25th September, 2016. It turned out to be more challenging than expected in the beginning.

Due to a pretty long travel, the journey started only at 8 am. Right in the beginning, we were already rewarded with an extraordinary view on a little pond next to the parking space. This beautiful picture was offered to us at a height of ~600 sea meters and our goal was to reach the summit cross of the big Priel at 2.515.

As it was a fresh morning and the trail started in a forested area, we wrapped ourselves up accordingly. But right after a short distance, we reached a sun-flooded clearing and got the chance to sneak a first peak on our destined mountain.

Just for a better understanding – the second peak from the right was the one we were heading for. At this point we realised that the upcoming hike could be more demanding than expected. Still not bounced back, we kept looking forward to an amazing experience.

After a little walk we reached the first ascending part of the trail, which took mainly place in the woods. Again, we had an amazing scenery around us. The forest offered so many beautiful moments – here are just a few of them.

After 2-3 hours of hiking, we reached the cabin. It was located at a sea level of about ~1.400 meters. So at this point, ~800 meters of height and a distance of 6 km were put back. The second time concerns came up, if we will even made it to the top, as we still head to cover 3-4 km’s of distance and more than 1.000 meters of height. Just one quick Skiwasser (water with shot of raspberry syrup) at the cabin and we immediately continued our trail. Our quickness was one of our mistakes, as we discovered later.

Pretty soon after we had left the cabin, we reached the tree line. From that point on a proper footgear was needed. I was actually glad about that circumstance as I anyway wanted to test my new hiking shoes properly.

What I have not mentioned so far is that we were following a specific hiking route with our bergfex app, but as you can imagine, we were not constantly checking our smartphones. So it happened as it had to happen, we missed a turning and found ourselves on a different trail. After a bit of research with our phones, we found out that we were heading to a via ferrata.

So, stuck in the middle of nowhere, we had to make a decision. Either going back a distance of more than half an hour and risking not to reach the peak anymore or finding an other solution.

Attempting not to give up, we checked once more the bergfex app to see where we actually were. We figured out that we were not that far away from our planned route and potentially could reach it if we hike freestyle in its direction. After we have studied the digital map as well as our surrounding area, we decided to give at a try.

Long story short – we made it to our route. It was not easy as we had to hike trough a pretty steep area and also partially climb up our way. Kind of invalidated of this action, we decided to have a little rest and refill our batteries with a little snack and drink. This is where we figured out, what we had forgotten at the cabin – we did not refill our water bottles. They were not empty at that point, but they were far away from full and we still had about 5-6 hours hike in front of us. At this point we had already hiked for about the same time. So a bit depressed, we had our break and enjoyed the breathtaking view.

The amazing view encouraged us. Now, back on the correct route, we looked forward to our next chapter – see below what expected us at that point of our trail.

The route in front of us was an official route and we also met other people. Just that noone was going up, but down.
Nevertheless, about an hour later, we mad it up to the ridge. Most of the last hour we were almost climbing. The route was secured with steel cables for additional support.
Up at the ridge, the point of destination was in near reach.

It was written on a little sign that the summit cross can be reached within 30 minutes. Truly, not that long later, we were finally sitting next to the cross and enjoying the amazing few. Even a few birds were keeping company with us.

Unfortunately, we again had to hurry and enjoyed the view only for 20-30 minutes as it already was almost 4 pm and we had to head back. Otherwise we would have run into danger to get stuck in the mountains as the night breaks in. So we again we pulled ourselves together and made our way back down.

Until half 5 pm we made it to the cabin. Again we only had a quick Skiwasser and continued our descending. But this time we filled up our bottles 😉

About 7 pm we finally reached the clearing and had one last and respectful peak back towards the big Priel.

Amazing.

If this post should have encouraged you to hike to the big Priel, please consider the option to do it within two days. In our case, we almost did not make it within one day.
However, here is the bergfex link to the route – Hinterstoder – Großer Priel.

Last weekend I went for a hike in the vienna woods (Wienerwald) as I bought new hiking boots and wanted to test them on a moderate terrain before proving them in the real mountains. Almost everyone will advice you to try new shoes on a shorter and less demanding trail as you can never know how your feet will respond. Nobody wants to abort a hike because of blisters or aching feet.

Meindl Island MFSMy new boots – the Meindl Island MFS seem to be a good investment. Even after about 10 km I had a very good feeling in those shoes. Only at the shaft I felt a bit of a pressing during more ascending paths, but I did not experience it as a serious issue. Next weekend, I will go for a more challenging hike and afterwards I can give you a more detailed impression about the boots.

Coming back to my actual hike – I can tell you that if you are looking for a little escape from the city daily life in vienna, the Wienerwald is a good choice to start with. You can check the official city homepage, which is offering several hiking trails. All of them are quite nice and they can be found here – Hiking around Vienna.

I decided to hike a combination of the official trail 4 and 4a. My overall goal was to visit the Jubiliäumswarte, which is a well-known lookout post. I have started the hike from Neuwaldegg, the end station of the tram 43. At the beginning it took me through a little park, where you slowly get accustomed to the atmosphere in the woods. At the end of the park I decided to make a turn to the left and hike up a mountain bike down hill trail. I wanted to check out how my new shoes will do their job on a more challenging path. As soon as I left the park, the rest of the trail took place in the woods.

Mountain bike trail

Trail in the forest

Overall, it was a nice scenery and I really enjoyed the walk through the forest. It offers a lot of hiking trails and you often meet other hikers. So the risk to get lost is not very high and even inexperienced hikers can fully enjoy the natural area.

After about only 1 hour of walking, I reached the Jubiläumswarte, which is located 449 meters above the sea level. It was obviously not a challenging hike and easy to be reached for everyone. If you want to enjoy the amazing panorama view over vienna and the surrounding area, be prepared to climb 183 stairs 😉

JubiläumswarteAfter passing all the 183 stairs, you can finally enjoy the panorama. You will be able to see the whole city, the forest surrounding vienna, several other hills/mountains and sight seeings like the Stephansdom from the distance. Even the Kahlenberg (from which you also have a nice view over vienna) its lookout post can be seen, which can be passed when hiking the official trail 1 of vienna.

When standing still on the top of the Jubiläumswarte, you can feel how the tower is slightly wobbling. Maybe this is not a feeling for everyone, but I kind of liked it.

When I made my way back home, I decided to head into the direction of Ottakring. Even this is way is part of a offical trail – the 4a.

The descent – if I can call it like this – was very relaxing as it was not steep at all and therefore easy to go. Another big advantage of the official trails is that all routes can be reached via public transport.

So if you are located in vienna and want to give hiking a try, this is probably one of the best starting opportunities. I would give it a try 🙂